Keisha Thompson is the recipient of the YSP / Laureate Fund Residency supported by the T. S. Eliot Foundation, which has been made possible by YSP Trustee and Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage.
Keisha will be spending time at the Park, creating new writing and connecting with the landscape and natural habitats. As well as being a writer, performance artist and producer, Keisha is the first Black woman, first Mancunian and the youngest person to be Artistic Director and CEO of Contact in Manchester. Look out for workshops and new writing from this exciting artist.
“From the mundane to the spectacular, I will use my body, my voice, my vernacular.”
- Keisha Thompson
About Keisha Thompson
Keisha Thompson is a Manchester based writer, performance artist and producer.
Keisha is Artistic Director and CEO of Contact, Manchester, Chair of radical arts funding body, Future’s Venture Foundation, an ITC board member and recipient of The Arts Foundation Theatre Makers Award 2021.
Recent works include children’s show, Issy, BOSSS & Fractal. Commissioned by Fuel Theatre. Directed by Alan Lane (Slung Low); The Bell Curves supported by Eclipse, York Theatre Royal and Pilot. An all-female show that clashes science and culture by looking at the medical ethics linked to CRISPR-Cas9 technology; and 14% supported by Talawa Firsts, an immersive theatre piece looking DNA tests and structural racism particularly within the context British football culture.
In May 2022, she completed a residency with Esplanade Theatre in Singapore. Her focus was on her on-going project, DeCipher. The expansive educational project, looks at mathematical pedagogy and how it can be taught in a creative way in non-educational spaces. She is working to find out how it can be decolonised, democratised and dismantled. The goal is to create interactions that allow for agency, joy and discovery. A maths lesson that feels like a poetry workshop, a dance class or an interaction installation.
In 2020, she finished touring award-winning solo show, Man on the Moon. Her debut book, Lunar, features her poetry and the show script. This book has recently been reprinted after selling out 250 copies. Whilst Moonwhile is a poetic mini album featuring music from the show.
In August 2020, she released a new mini album,Ephemera, in collaboration with Tom “Werkha” Leah and featuring riveting cellist, Abel Selaocoe. Performances of the album have included We Out Here Festival and Timber Festival. It was named as album of the week by Jazz FM DJ Tim Garcia.
She has supported artists such as Kae Tempest, Hollie McNish, The Last Poets, Saul Williams, Amiri Baraka and has performed in Brave New Voices festivals 2008 & 2009. Her work has been presented at venues high profile venues and platforms such as Tate Modern, Blue Dot Festival and the British Council Showcase in Edinburgh.
